Thousands without power in Lower Mainland as feds issue special weather statement
CBC
Another storm set to hit B.C.'s Lower Mainland on Saturday is a reminder to prepare a 72-hour emergency kit at home, a spokesperson for B.C. Hydro said.
By 8 a.m., roughly 4,500 people in the region were without electricity, as crews rushed to assess the cause of the outages.
"The hardest hit areas are White Rock and Abbotsford," said Kevin Aquino, a spokesperson for B.C. Hydro, at 8 a.m. Saturday morning. "Crews are on route to determine the cause of the outage."
It is not known yet whether the morning's outages were weather-related, however, but Aquino said the public utility is prepared for impacts of a storm this weekend.
The largest outage, in White Rock, was caused by a fallen tree which knocked out power to nearly 2,400 homes.
But the region's residents closer to the ocean woke up to sunny skies Saturday, though meteorologists forecast more showers and winds gusting up to 60 kilometres an hour in Vancouver, similar to Richmond and Surrey.
Several ferry sailings had to be cancelled Friday because of intense winds.
Environment and Climate Change Canada warned of an impending "intense Pacific frontal system" in a special weather statement at 5:45 a.m. for the eastern and central Fraser Valley, which is forecast to get at times heavy rain Saturday, with 15 to 25 millimetres of expected to fall.
And meteorologists warned of a "long period of snowfall" on the already-storm damaged highways from the coast to the Interior, with the essential-vehicle-only Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton forecast to get 15 to 20 centimetres of snow over the next day.
"Consider postponing non-essential travel until conditions improve," the federal agency said. "Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow."
B.C. Hydro offers advice to anyone affected by power outages on its website.
It recommends people should prepare a home emergency kit with non-perishable food, flashlights and other essentials, and to keep warm and check that neighbours are safe and warm, especially seniors.
And the public utility warns people never to approach fallen electric wires, and urges households turn off major appliances and heating until power is restored to prevent a sudden load on the system.
"It's difficult to predict how much damage a storm will cause or how long a power outage will last," Aquino told CBC News. "Customers should always have an emergency kit on hand with supplies that can last for 72 hours."
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.